Traveling to Denver with a vape?

2/24/15 8:16 PM

Since Colorado decided that marijuana usage was A-Okay by them, an interesting question has come up. Well, actually, a lot of questions have come up. This one in particular, however, has a fairly flexible answer. Let’s say you’re flying from Chicago to San Francisco, and you couldn’t get a direct flight so you ended up with a five hour layover in Denver. Can you, in good conscience, bring your vaporizer along to entertain your needless waste of half a day? The short answer to this question is, YES!

To clarify, smoking weed or for that matter possession of marijuana is not by any means legal in Denver Airport. That means, no sitting by the gate vaping on your portable vaporizer pen and passing it to the pretty girl sitting next to you. Can’t do that. It’s a shame really. It’s like how in Vegas they have slot machines by the gates to entertain you while you’re waiting. Too bad Colorado hasn’t adopted that philosophy yet.

Anyway, point is, you can’t come to the airport in Denver and ask the lady at Hudson News to sell you an ounce. However, and a big HOWEVER, that is a Denver Airport Rule, not a state law. This means that it is no way an arrestable offense. Basically, they can’t slap on the handcuffs and throw you in a locked sell, assuming you have less than an ounce on hand. Should the TSA catch you with it, you will be given two options. The first is to discard your herbal substance, and the second will be to accept a $1,000 fine. Now, according to Denver International Airport spokesperson, only 24 people in 2014 were caught in possession of marijuana, and all of them chose to discard their weed.

Getting to the more important question. Can you bring your portable vaporizer with you for a layover in Denver? Absolutely, assuming that while it is not in the designated smoking/vaping areas available in the great city of Denver, it has no marijuana in it. The TSA has absolutely no regulations about vaporizers being prohibited items, and they may in fact be carried in carry-on bags. The thing is, it has to be clean. No trace of inhalable marijuana can be identified anywhere in or near the vaporizer.

Now for me, personally, that seems like too much headache. I’m not trying to go through airport security paranoid that I’m going to be asked to “step to the side”. The easier alternative to meticulous cleaning and packing of your vaporizer is to rent one. There are companies like Cultivated Traveler who rent out vaporizers for day uses. That’s the much simpler alternative. However, at least you know that if you prefer to use your own equipment, you are in fact allowed to bring it with you on the plane.